The Circulating Nurse's Role in Error Recovery in the Cardiovascular OR

Nursing surveillance, an essential component of perioperative practice, includes the detection of and recovery from errors. However, error recovery is considered routine during nursing care and may go under-recognized. This study assessed the types of errors or potential errors that were detected and recovered by the circulating nurse during care of patients undergoing coronary artery or valve surgery. From June to September 2010, perioperative nurses observed 18 surgical procedures. An average of 11.11 errors or incidents occurred per procedure; however, 77% of all incidents were intercepted and the other 23% were either mitigated or ameliorated so no adverse outcomes occurred. This study demonstrates that nurses play an important role in ensuring patient safety and reinforces the necessity of vigilance in the OR, especially in regard to aseptic technique and surgical prepping.